(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a powered crimping tool. In the parent application, referenced above, the tool, having a plurality of crimping jaws, is used to secure a cap onto a bottle or vial. In this application, the tool, having a pair of opposed crimping heads, is used to crimp a solderless terminal, splice, butt connector, or the like, having a wire inserted into a shaft and to be retained therein. The powered tool has a housing portion which the user holds and includes switches for the user to control the plunger and the crimping action. Selected mating crimper heads in the plunger and the crimper housing effectuate the crimping of the selected terminal to retain the wire therein. These mating crimper heads can be changed to accommodate a variety of different size and shape terminals, splices, butt connectors, wires, and the like. Terminals may be insulated or not. Wires may be stranded or solid.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
In the parent application, various crimping tools are taught related to crimping a cap onto a bottle or vial. U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,626, to Applicant Thomas, which teaches a manually operated crimping tool for securing a cap onto a bottle or vial. U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,722, to Koebbeman, teaches a hand-held bottle cap crimper having a pair of horizontal crimping handles, one upper fixed handle and one lower lever handle which moves about a single pivot point to move a crimper, the pivot point being between jaws and the handles so that the tool functions in a see saw fashion. U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,729 to Bethge et al., teaches a container closing apparatus used to put on a screw cap. U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,032, to Koebbeman, teaches a hand-held bottle cap crimper having a pair of horizontal crimping handles, one lower fixed handle and one upper lever handle which moves about a single pivot point to move a crimper, the jaws being between the pivot-point and the handles. U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,211, to Koll et al., teaches a cap applying apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 3,217,519, to Demler, teaches a coaxial crimping tool. U.S. Pat. No. 2,415,896, to Marsh et al., a cap applying implement. U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,697, to Kent, teaches a chuck for a bottle capper. U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,284, to Boeckmann et al., teaches a capping apparatus. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,441, to Amtsberg et al., teaches a pneumatic tool having combined nut running and crimping mechanism.
Solderless terminals have a shaft where a wire is to be received. The terminals may have any type head thereon, for example, loops or rings, hooks, prongs, or spades. The terminals may be insulated or not. The terminal heads have differing sizes, for example, to fit a variety of screw sizes. The shaft normally has a wire receiving opening which is surrounded by the shaft. The shatf typically has a lengthwise split therein which permits the shaft to be crimped down onto the wire inserted therein. Butt connectors, splices, and quick disconnect terminals are similarly configured. Historically, a manually operated ratchet crimping tool is used to crimp the terminal shaft to secure the wire therein.